N-power generation capacity to be hiked 3 times in 10 years: Government

NEW DELHI: Government plans to increase the nuclear power generation capacity of the country by three times in ten years, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said today.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State in the PMO said while earlier five-year plan targets were set with regard to electricity generation from nuclear power plants, "with the establishment of Niti Aayog, the concept of five-year plans has lost relevance and the government proposes to make long term plans ranging from 7-15 years."

He said the government aims to increase the capacity for power generation by three times in ten years.

Singh also said that a three stage nuclear power programme has been devised to efficiently utilise the large reserve of thorium in the country.

"India has gained experience over the entire thorium fuel cycle - fabrication, irradiation and reprocessing on a semi-industrial scale. Efforts are currently on to enlarge that experience to a bigger scale," he said.

“To save the environment and to fight climate change, my government has planned a major campaign. By 2022, we want to generate 175 GW of renewable energy. In the last three years, we have already achieved 60 GW or around one-third of this target,” he said.